The invention relates generally to an electronic card reader device for reading data cards and, more particularly, to a system and method for periodically cleaning a head inside the card reader device.
Data cards are compact, reliable, and convenient devices used in many different transactions. There are many different uses of data cards. Examples include, identification cards used to operate an automatic door lock, bank cards used to check a balance of bank account, and credit cards used to purchase goods and services. The wide business and consumer acceptance of data cards has continually encouraged their use in new and different applications. One relatively new application is to provide a card reader device in a fuel dispenser so that a customer can pay for fuel at the dispenser itself.
A common type of data card is a magnetic strip card. Magnetic strip cards work by having a magnetic strip attached to a plastic card. The magnetic strip has encoded thereon data that is relevant to the card's particular application. For example, a credit card has data that includes a customer account number and a credit card company. In this way, if a customer wants to make a purchase from a retailer, the retailer can read the credit card so that it may contact the credit card company and receive payment from the customer account, in accordance with the customer's purchase.
Data cards are usually read using a card reader device. A card reader device includes an optical or magnetic head for reading the data from the card and an interface that allows it to transmit the data to a separate computing device. Using the credit card example above, the magnetic head converts the magnetically encoded data stored on the magnetic strip of the card into electronic data. The electronic data is then transferred to the computing device, where it is used by the retailer to learn of the purchaser's credit card company and account number.
Due to the environment in which these card reader devices are used, these devices often experience failure and/or damage due to dirty or unclean heads. Typically, the task of cleaning the heads belongs to a store operator or maintenance person, hereinafter operator. Cleaning the head is ideally performed on a periodic basis, depending on such factors as the amount of usage by the card reader device and the amount of time since the last clean was performed. However, this task is often neglected, or simply forgotten, thereby resulting in the failure or damage of the card reader device.
As a partial solution to the above describe problem, some systems provide a prompt to the operator indicating that it is time to clean the head. In an ideal setting, the prompt is issued, the operator cleans the head, and then the operator resets the prompt to indicate that the head has been cleaned. However, these prompts are inherently unreliable. For example, the prompt may issue during a busy or otherwise inconvenient time. The operator resets the prompt without cleaning the head, expecting to clean the head soon thereafter. However, the operator forgets and the head goes an extended period of time without being cleaned, thereby resulting in failure or damage.
Therefore, what is needed is a system and method for indicating when a magnetic head of a card reader device needs to be cleaned.
Furthermore, what is needed is a system and method that insures that the magnetic head of the card reader device has been cleaned.